Independent · 40+ lenders · Toronto

Ask us the question you think is too basic

We are brokers, not a bank branch. Nobody here earns more for steering you to one particular lender, and no question about how any of this works is too small.

See a real conversation

A first conversation, more or less verbatim

Shared with permission. Names changed, numbers not.

  1. Devon10:02

    Hi — we have about $70k saved and a combined income of $148k. Is that anywhere near enough for a place in the east end? It feels like it isn’t.

  2. Sam Oyelaran, broker10:09

    It is closer than you think. On $148k, with no car loans and a clean file, most lenders will land you around $610k–$650k depending on the stress-test rate and the property taxes. Do you have any other monthly debt?

  3. Devon10:11

    A student line of credit, about $180 a month. And we are both salaried, no bonuses.

  4. Sam Oyelaran, broker10:20

    Salaried is the easy case — two paystubs and a letter of employment and we are basically done. That $180 knocks roughly $34k off the maximum, so realistically:

    • Purchase price around $615,000
    • Minimum down payment on that: $36,500
    • Your $70k covers it, plus land transfer tax and closing costs

    Toronto charges a municipal land transfer tax on top of the provincial one, but as first-time buyers you get a rebate on both — about $8,475 back in total. That is the number most people forget to count.

  5. Devon10:24

    Wait — we would still be under 20% down. Doesn’t that make everything much worse?

  6. Sam Oyelaran, broker10:33

    It means CMHC insurance, about $23,200 on that purchase, added to the mortgage rather than paid upfront. It stings on paper. But insured mortgages usually get a lower rate than uninsured ones, so putting exactly 20% down is often worse over five years than putting 10% down. I will run both side by side so you can see it rather than take my word for it.

  7. Devon10:35

    Okay, that is genuinely not what I expected. What do you need from us?

  8. Sam Oyelaran, broker10:41

    Very little to start. Two recent paystubs each, last year’s T4s, and a screenshot of the savings balance. I can have a pre-approval with a 120-day rate hold back to you tomorrow.

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What actually happens, start to keys

Typically five to seven weeks from first message to closing, most of it spent waiting on other people.

  1. A conversation

    Twenty minutes on the phone or over chat. No credit pull yet, no documents, no commitment. We give you the honest number.

  2. Pre-approval

    One credit check, a handful of documents, and a rate hold of 90–120 days. Now you can make an offer without a financing condition scaring the seller off.

  3. Shop the lenders

    We take your file to the lenders whose rules actually fit it — not all forty, the six that will say yes at the best rate.

  4. Firm approval

    Once you have an accepted offer we submit the property details, order the appraisal if the lender wants one, and get the commitment in writing.

  5. Closing

    Instructions go to your real estate lawyer, the funds move on closing day, and we call you a week later to check the first payment came out correctly.

What clients say

Verified reviews from clients who closed with us in the last eighteen months.

★★★★★ 4.9 from 212 reviews reviews on Google
★★★★★
Sam talked me out of the mortgage I wanted and into a cheaper one. Who does that? Saved us about $6,000 over the five-year term and explained exactly why.
Priya M. · March 2026 · via google
★★★★★
I am self-employed and two banks had already told me no. Northline found a lender who understood how a corporation pays its owner. Closed in four weeks.
Marc-André L. · January 2026 · via google
★★★★★
Answered a text at 9pm on a Sunday during a bidding war so we could raise our offer with confidence. Never once made us feel stupid for asking something obvious.
The Osei family · November 2025 · via google
★★★★★
Great advice and a genuinely good rate. The lender they placed us with was slow with paperwork, though Northline chased them constantly on our behalf.
Hana T. · September 2025 · via google

Questions people are embarrassed to ask

Do you charge me anything?

No. On standard residential deals the lender pays our commission on closing, and it does not change your rate. If your file needs an alternative or private lender we will tell you the fee in writing before any application goes anywhere.

Will shopping around wreck my credit score?

No. We pull your credit once and use that single report with every lender we approach. Multiple mortgage enquiries inside a short window are also treated as one by the credit bureaus.

Fixed or variable?

There is no universal answer, only one for your situation. If a 1.5% rate rise would genuinely hurt your monthly budget, take fixed and sleep at night. If you have room and you might move or refinance early, variable usually carries the cheaper break penalty — and that penalty is where most people actually lose money.

I am self-employed. Is this going to be painful?

More paperwork, not more rejection. We will want two years of T1 Generals and Notices of Assessment, and if you pay yourself in dividends we will find a lender that counts them properly. Roughly a third of our clients are self-employed.

My renewal letter arrived. Should I just sign it?

Please do not sign it first. Renewal offers from an existing lender are on average 0.2–0.4% above what the same lender will offer a switching client. Send it to us and we will tell you honestly if it is already competitive.

Start a conversation

No credit check at this stage, and nothing you send here obliges you to anything. We reply within one business day, usually much sooner.

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